The human form is composed of the physical body, but also includes a number of subtle energy bodies used for communication and sits somewhere between the physical and the soul. The physical body is certainly the most obvious and appears to the eye. Flesh, bone and blood make up the body and belong to the physical world. Structurally, the body is designed to fit and fulfill all the aspects of the third dimension (physical) of reality and possesses all bodily senses. The subtle energies, however, flow in and around our physical body and store both the energy necessary to support the physical body and to reduce any negativity. These subtle energies also give attention to the mind through communication, or contact, and discern the various messages to our body and mind on different frequencies, so to speak.
There are different schools of thought and approaches to these energies, sometimes referred to as the astral or ethereal body. According to one opinion, the astral body is an aura itself, somewhat like a thin layer of substance; while to another, it is like a thin layer in between two parts of existence, the physical and the soul. Others claim that there is no such body; indeed, it is a phenomenon in which the mind is projected to further dimensions of existence. Also, there are many other schools of thought being developed, but I have just mentioned the most common ones.
To comment on the astral body, we should either stick with one of the theses mentioned above or have in-depth information about each of them. Unless we choose the thesis denying the presence of the astral body that claims it is only a projection of the mind, then the other approaches are almost the same with certain tiny differences and assume that it is either a delicate layer itself or a layer in between two parts of existence.
The Astral Body
In my opinion, astral projection uses the astral body which is one part of our two energy bodies. Counter to the physical body, the astral one has no earthly needs such as water, food and air; it balances the negative and positive energy. The physical and astral bodies have different sensing organs to keep pace with changes in frequency during an astral split (going into deep sleep). Even if we visually or aurally sense the energy we are exposed to during projection, in fact, they are a reflection of those energies which are in a different frequency concurrent to the astral body, in the bodily senses. That is to say, like the physical body, the astral body also has its own sensing organs; so during astral (out-of-body) projection, our visual, auditory and tactile senses will be finely tuned. Physical problems, illnesses and disorders will not be transmitted to the astral body. For instance, a visually-impaired person has dreams and sees things during astral projection. Moreover, people with physical challenges do not experience such inabilities during astral projection; hence, physical pain or agony is not conveyed to the astral body.
Here, knowledge about the dream state would be beneficial to our understanding. During the dream-state, both the physical body and the mind remains unresponsive, and vital activities decrease by half. The astral body and the physical body splits, relieving the latter. Contrary to popular belief, during this unconscious splitting, the astral body does not go that far from the physical body, only a few inches; thus, we have unconscious dreams. Since the connection between the astral body and the physical body is not detached one from the other, the former does not go far.
The Astral Dimension
The inconclusive points in astral projection phenomenon is not only restricted to the astral body but is further reflected in the astral dimension. It is a fact that one-to-one transition from the physical body to the astral body dimension is possible; that is, we are able to do astral projection in a way that we may detect everything going on in the physical world without time lapses. This is only possible when our minds are in 100 percent accordance with the physical world and well-adapted to the astral dimension. Like everything else, there is a yin-yang balance in it. We may call it “travel to the physical dimension.” The time and space continuum remains the same; the speed is velocity of thought. All we have to do is concentrate on the target situation and try to move away from every other thought. Since a single moment of loss of consciousness will lead us to the world of dreams, restoration of that consciousness back to the physical dimension should be practiced.
In this phenomenon of what we call “travel to the physical dimension,” the physical and the astral dimensions are intermingled, i.e., the overlap of conscious with the subconscious. Every essential aspect will be present but may not necessarily be in its proper place—similar to something is recognized by the conscious but in fact not accepted by the subconscious. Just like our subconscious drives us away from the reality and balance in time, when we center our awareness upon an object or event that is displaced in the astral dimension, it will easily lead us to the dream state.
The Difficulties
Although we may have all the information we need about astral projection, it has always been a difficult issue to actually do it. One of the reasons is that we have no control over our subtle bodies, and we do not know how to center our minds upon our subtle bodies. That is, the astral body acts like a vehicle which may transmit us to the dimensions of different frequencies. As usual, it takes a licensed driver to drive the vehicle. The challenge begins with the driver, our mind. Our mind is comfortable in our physical body; whereas, it is estranged from the idea of a subtle body and remains in a different state of consciousness. Our mind resists unusual experiences like astral projection, and therefore, it is the main obstacle.
We should practice astral projection only after our physical body is ready: balanced in terms of energy and chakra activation. These are the practices that help to split the physical and astral bodies. Speaking of this split, first, we should relax our body, perceive it as one, and try to remain in the alpha-wave state. Meanwhile, try to empty your mind, focus on a single issue, and do not think anything other than that. When we are completely relaxed and focused, we may feel changes in our heart and stomach: an increase in the heartbeat and/or a spasm or flutter in the stomach.
Get Ready to Launch
Up till now, everything may seem normal, but it is not. Why? Because we are actually doing it: the astral body is about to leave the physical body. Symptoms of an astral split include an increase in the heartbeat, stomach spasms or fluttering or hearing a buzz or ringing in the ears. We may think that our physical organs are producing such feelings; indeed, the physical body is going into a dream state and our astral body senses are awakening to lead the projection. These symptoms are produced in the astral body: It is not an increase in heartbeat but accelerated rotation of the heart chakra; the buzz is not in our ears but in the astral body. Usually such feelings frighten the person and make them suppress the fear of astral projection into the subconscious because they are not accustomed to these symptoms. Unless the person performs subconscious cleaning, this stage will be the last point they reach in astral projection.
We should have a certain amount of control over our physical and astral bodies, and be able to determine the stage of split with respect to our symptoms. If we believe that we have accomplished a proper split, then we are one step away from astral projection: to convince the mind to be focused on its new domain—the astral body. Hence, it should be done gently and carefully.
The more focused our target, the faster we get there. We should never forget that during astral projection we are kind of cooperating with our mind. Usually, it is not the objects but the frequencies and feelings that are seen and sensed during the projection; therefore, we may be subjected to illusions of the subconscious. The best way to increase awareness is to carry on trials within a protected zone, and to be able to recognize the possible strains and their sources. That is, we should keep on reading and researching.
